Dr. R

Friday, February 28, 2014

The Read Across America literacy event was memorable for the young children and their families who attended the celebration at the Hagatna Public Library on March 1, 2014. My youngest son Kinny was captivated by the Dr. Seuss puppet show and the various arts & crafts stations. He and the other enthusiastic kids also participated in a special parade and feast in celebration of Dr. Seuss' 110th Birthday! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Kudos to all! Enjoy the following snapshots taken during this special event!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Guam Nikkeijin Exhibit held at GPO on February 22, 2014 was meaningful! GNA members and friends showcased their Japanese family tree, priceless photos, information, memorabilia, records, and oral history. Domo Arigato for joining us in this special event! Enjoy the following snapshots!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The 43rd Annual National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Conference held in San Diego, California was meaningful! The theme was Sailing into the 21st Century: Multiple Languages, Multiple Paths, Lifelong Advantages. Dr. Jose Cruz and I had the honor of presenting our culturally-relevant papers at the conference hosted February 12-15, 2014 at the San Diego Convention Center. Professor Rosa Salas Palomo served as the Chair during our Asian Pacific Islanders Special Interest Group session. Her Co-Chair was Dr. Shu-Yuan Lin. Although the Guam Delegation was a small group, they proudly represented the island amongst the others who presented. Their presentations focused on Sailing to an Innovative Way of Reaching Out to Pacific Islanders,Creating a Safe Classroom Environment for ELLs' Learning, Student Achievement: Bi-literate Magic in Core Subjects for Lifelong Advantages,and Alii World: Palau Language Commission Has Arrived at the Digitalized World of the Internet. Other highlights of the conference included the following: NABE - CABE Pre-Institute, The Seal of Biliteracy: An award, a policy, a strategy and tool for our bilingual movement, Dual Immersion as a Turn-Around Model: Successes and Challenges, How to Align Common Core State Standards for All Learners, Educating for Global Competence: The Value of Multilingualism, To Translanguage or not to Translanguage? How to and How Not to, and so much more!

In addition, school visits to Nestor Language Academy Charter School and Riverview Elementary School were outstanding! The Nestor School focuses on a two-way immersion program, including Spanish and English, grades K-6. It also focuses on bilingualism, biliteracy, and positive cross-cultural attitudes and activities. On the other hand, Riverview Elementary School focuses on a one-way immersion program. It offers two world language programs, including Spanish and Mandarin. It infuses 21st century learning skills, including world language instruction, technology, critical thinking, and creativity!

I received a "I Support the Seal of Biliteracy" sticker as part of my participation in the NABE - CABE Pre-Institute.

The Guam Nikkei Association will be presenting the Guam Nikkeijin Exhibit II at the Guam Premier Outlets on Saturday, February 22, from 11am to 3pm. The organization consists of membership comprised of those with Japanese ancestry and living on Guam. Its membership includes those originating from Japanese communities on the mainland and Hawaii, Palau, Republic of the Marshalls, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Okinawa, other areas in the global community and even from Japan.
Issei, nisei, sansei, yonsei, gosei and extended members of local families have gotten together to share histories, lineages, connections to prefectures, surnames and other information relative to the organization’s mission and objectives. Family trees, photographs, records, memorabilia, textiles, heirlooms, historical accounts and rosters of descendants’ names will be featured at the Exhibit that is free and open to the general public.

Members of the board of directors that include Frank S. N. Shimizu, Thomas V. C. Tanaka, Joseph Hara Salas, Julia Akiyama Cruz Caguioa, Monte Noda Mesa, Dr. David L. G. Shimizu, Peter R. Onedera, David Okada and Fred Nishihira will be on hand to recruit new members, encourage membership involvement and to field questions about the organization’s plans for the year.

The exhibit will be situated between Nike and Levi’s Stores at GPO.
Those wishing to be included in the exhibit are invited to contact Peter R. Onedera, historian, at 477-4234, 486-3210 or peteronedera@gmail.com or president Monte Noda Mesa at 888-1944 or monte@guam.net.